The moment the knife made contact with the stitches, it became unraveled easily. Pushing further to destroy the whole arm, Shen Wei accidentally made contact with the monster.

White light flashed before his eyes and the next moment he sees a young fresh looking boy dressed in a polo shirt along with khaki pants, sitting in a university classroom.

The young boy was secretly staring at Ye You in class, while the professor tried to teach biology. His big eyes seemed to be dazed on Ye You, capturing every detail of him, how he was holding the pen, how twitches his eyebrow as things got difficult, how he writes down his notes and circles it a few times for important stuff.

His friend noticing this odd behavior gave the young boy a nudge awakening him from his dazed state, turning his face red mix of embarrassment and shame appeared.

“What’s wrong with you Le Cheng?” the friend whispered, as he glanced in the direction where he was staring so intensely before.

“No no nothing, I just saw a bird by the window” he answered.

Le Cheng had a secret that no one knew, he himself only discovered it recently. As his friends started getting girlfriends, he realized that he had no particular interests in girls, rather he seemed to be more attracted to guys. However, knowing that he was not like the rest already because he was an orphan made him not want to stand out even more, hence he decided against letting anyone know.

But life doesn’t work out that way. The more you avoid, the more it attracts. On the first day of university, Ye You accidentally bumped into Le Cheng causing him to fall. But Ye You apologized sincerely, and in the end, flashed a smile at Le Cheng before walking away, which made his heart start beating madly.

Then to see him in the same class as him, both studying biology, it was like giving a bee a little honey and telling it to go away, but the bee of course would go back with the honey laid out.

At first, they just start with casual hellos as fellow students, but then Ye You started dropping by at the convenience store where he worked. Risking getting fired, Le Cheng would sneak time out of work to talk with him a bit more. And then they began talking at school too, they would study together when Le Cheng doesn’t have work, they would eat out sometimes, even though Le Cheng didn’t really have the money to spare. Of course, Le Cheng didn’t want anything at first, just being friends with him brought a lot of joy into his life. He understood that even if he liked him, Ye You wouldn’t swing that way.

However, the more time they spent together, the feelings grew deeper. Every time Ye You smile, Le Cheng’s heart bloomed, every time Ye You touches him on the shoulder or shared food with him, Le Cheng heart felt like bursting. Sometimes Ye You would hold his hands as if it was totally normal, and Le Cheng would act like its normal too hoping that he would never let go.

Three months passed just like that, blissfully happy for Le Cheng. At one point he even dared to consider Ye You as family, a family he never had since he was young and thrown away to the orphanage. Even though Ye You can sometimes act very cold, like how he kicked a stray cat, as they sat by the curb to eat lunch. Without a hint of guilt, he broke the cat’s legs, coldly. His indifference in his eyes to living creatures scared Le Cheng truthfully, he heard the cat’s pitiful meow, but seeing how Ye You ignored it and smiled at Le Cheng in return, feeding him a bite. Le Cheng consumed his fear of Ye You, with the fear of Ye You leaving him instead.

Like a spell that came from the Christmas atmosphere as they enjoyed watching lights together, the truth that’s been burning his mind finally spilled out,

“I like you” Le Cheng said, and as if he said something horrifying, he covered his mouth, fearing Ye You’s rejected face, he begun to run. But before he could run too far, he was hugged into a warm space, his chaotic heart that was once filled with dread began to beat because of excitement and hope.

“Would you do anything for me then?” Ye You softly whispered into Le Cheng’s red ears, that turned redder.

Le Cheng hesitated as to whether this is his illusions or not, but he nodded as he felt loved for the first time. That night Le Cheng cried in the middle of the dazzling street with the cold wind blowing down on them but he was being hugged so warmly by Ye You, feeling so loved that it was overwhelming.

That moment was the turning point of his life. How he wished he saw Ye You clearly, how he wished he never met him, how he wished that he rejected him, how he wished he saw the signs and how he wished he never loved Ye You.

Ye You asked him to meet up with him at a cabin the next day, saying that they could take a mini trip while enjoying nature. But he was to tell no one, making it their own little secret. Understanding, Le Cheng thought that Ye You probably wasn’t used to their new status and wanted to not let others know which was fine with Le Cheng too, as he didn’t want to be viewed differently.

So he excitedly packed, bought everything he could think of, checking off the list he made. He even secretly bought condoms and lube, preparing himself and doing additional research.

But what awaited for Le Cheng wasn’t the romantic getaway where he would get his first kiss and perhaps more. Nor would they be spending time laughing and enjoying the mountains.

No, what awaited for him was pain, dread and hopelessness.

When Ye You came to pick him up, he was eerily quiet, every question would be answered with a one word answer. Le Cheng kept quiet too in the end, for fear that he did something wrong to make Ye You mad and not want him.

When they arrived at the cabin, it was beautiful, like straight out of a picture. In this isolated mountain, there was a wood cabin in the middle with a fireplace outside. Boundless trees wrapped the cabin up tightly, so all they can see was trees. Le Cheng unable to keep his excitement in for this being his first trip in his whole life, that he begun jumping here and there. He explored the cabin from the kitchen to the living room, and finally to the singe bed bedroom, feeling his face heat up at the thought.

But before he can imagine further, he felt a painful blow on his head causing his whole world to become dizzy and the last thing he saw was Ye You holding a metal bat smiling coldly at him, as Le Cheng reached out for him.